Hello John & thanks for your reply. Yes, I gave up on the pump sprayer after the first try. I switched to mop & bucket, but had same results. So I increased the neutral cleaner (StoneCare Pro) to 10oz/gal. Same results. Still showed splatter etches everywhere.
 
   We only used the truck mount as we had to clean the ceramic tile kitchen next to it. But yes, I grew frustrated with the noise anyway and switched to wet vac.
 
   I did it the exact way as in school, excepting I used way more neutral barrier. As I mentioned, that began to compound my problem as the neutral cleaner was flooding my 5X powder. After the first 20 sq, I could not keep my slurry as thick.
 
   I don't know if you saw the earlier post where I mentioned that my alkaline cleaner etched this tile. I thought it was Crema Marfil, but I could be mistaken. I'm just guessing it is a very sensitive stone.
 
   It is my intention to try again with the 5X, but including either brush agitation in the neutral buffer while polishing, or a quick pass at the end over the area likely spattered. I would like to get this figured out.

   I appreciate your thoughts.
 
 
Eric Lewis, Technical Mgr
DirtyGroutGuys.com
West Chester, PA 19380

On Mon, Apr 9, 2012 at 10:19 AM, John Freitag <jfreitag@thestoneandtileschool.com> wrote:

Eric,

 

First you should never try to neutralize a floor using a pump up sprayer, second if you are still getting etch marks after polishing you are still not using enough neutral cleaner. You need to use at least 4 to 5 ounces of neutral cleaner for every 1 gallon of water , and you need to measure it not guess at the amount. After 5X polishing vac up the polish and apply a heavy coating of neutral cleaner.

Then polish the next section of floor and repeat the process.  You worked on this stone in training and had no problems.

Next question, who’s neutral cleaner are you using ??? all neutral cleaners are not created equal.  The process is simple just make sure you are using the correct amounts of cleaner to water.

 

The spinner tool and truck mount vac in my opinion is a  waste of time, all you need is a wet and dry vac, no set up time and no hosed running all over the place and as long as your truck is running your wasting fuel.

 

Follow the process you learned in training and you should not have any problems.  Call if you need additional advise.

 

Regards

 

 

John E Freitag

Director

The Stone & Tile School

Office 407-567-7652

Cell 407-615-0134

jfreitag@thestoneandtileschool.com

 

schoollogo

 

www.thestoneandtileschool.com

 

 

From: subewl@gmail.com [mailto:subewl@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Eric - DGG
Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2012 10:10 AM
To: Restoration and Maintenance
Subject: [sccpartners] 5X Slinger

 

   Trust you all are having a fine Easter weekend.

 

   First marble polishing job since being trained by John & Butch in beginning of March. 320 sq Crema Marfil foyer, powder room & hallway. Seemed like a nice simple first job. Right.

 

   The prescription was 220, 400 & 5X polish. Everything went fine up until the polish. After drying there appeared to be splash etching marks on the stone. My first assumption was that the mix ratio of the neutral cleaner was too light, so I quadrupled it. Repeated the polish which removed the etch marks, only to have new ones appear.

 

   Okay, so maybe using the pump sprayer to lay down the neutral barrier wasn't such a good idea, even though it appeared flooded. Switched to the academic bucket & mop method. Took extra care to lay it down thick. Yet still the marks appeared.

 

   The only other variable was how I removed the slurry. Used both wet vac & our truck mount spinner. Neither seemed to make a difference.

 

   I even tried just doing 10 sq at a time before extraction, as opposed to the normal 20. Same problem.

 

 

   Not a great photo, but the etch marks should be obvious.

 

   I was even sparing on the 5X as I discovered that the one pound container we had was only going to cover 250 sq.

 

   I know I'm a newbie, but this is ridiculous. Any clue as to what I'm doing wrong?

 

 
Eric Lewis

DirtyGroutGuys.com
West Chester, PA 19380

 

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